Effective November 2, 2009, the Postal Service™ is revising Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, International Mail Manual (IMM®) to add a new section 123.63 to provide clarity and specific examples of “documents” as they relate to the selection of an appropriate customs declaration form under IMM Exhibit 123.61. We are redesignating current section 123.63 as 123.64, and we are also cross-referencing 123.63 as appropriate in Exhibit 123.61.
Previously, in the article titled “IMM Revision: Customs Label Requirements for International Mail Items” in Postal Bulletin 22262 (7-2-09, page 5), we revised IMM Exhibit 123.61 to include the word “documents” in the revised definitions in the “Type of Items” column. This revision is intended to provide additional clarity by providing specific examples of “documents,” which include the following:
a. Audit and business records.
b. Personal correspondence.
c. Circulars.
d. Pamphlets.
e. Advertisements.
f. Written instruments not intended to be resold.
g. Money orders, checks, and similar items that cannot be negotiated or converted into cash without forgery.
In addition, this revision clarifies that “documents,” as they relate to shipments exempt from customs declaration forms, include only printed documents and not electronic storage media or devices such as CDs, DVDs, or flash drives (even though such devices can contain electronic files that can be printed).
Articles such as artwork, collector or antique document items, books, periodicals, printed music, printed educational or test material, player piano rolls, engineering drawings, blueprints, film, negatives, x-rays, separation negatives, photographs, CDs, DVDs, flash drives, video and cassette tapes, and other electronic storage media are considered merchandise. Consequently, these items require a customs declaration form, and the sender must declare a value for them.
We will incorporate these revisions into the next printed version of the IMM and into the monthly update of the online IMM, which is available via Postal Explorer® at http://pe.usps.com.
— Mailing Standards,
Pricing, 10-8-09
